TAMPA, Fla. — Every weekend in October, a Tampa nonprofit animal sanctuary holds a fall festival fundraiser.
However, this year that festival was in jeopardy of being postponed until a group of volunteers stepped up and helped clean up following Hurricane Ian.
HorsePower For Kids has more than 300 animals, many of them rescues. When the staff saw Ian in the forecast, they scrambled to get them out of harm's way, in essence rescuing them again.
From parrots to monkeys to lemurs, founder Armando Gort was forced to bring half his farm home with him during Hurricane Ian.
“We’re right by the bay, so we are worried about the water coming up and getting in the cages or trees falling into the cages and the animals coming out,” said Gort. “It’s wild, and they make a big old mess, and they’re up all night.”
Fortunately, all the animals made it out of the storm unscathed, but as for the farm itself, they were shut down for over a week.
“A lot of bamboo that came down, a lot of leaves, just a lot of debris,” said Gort.
That’s when the community stepped in. More than 40 people volunteered to clean up, like Cheryl Cowans and her band of boy scouts.
“Oh, it was a mess; there was bamboo everywhere, there were trees, branches, I mean, we had the boys raking, they probably raked up 50 bags easy,” said Cowans.
“It means a lot because that means they support the farm, we have a lot of supporters, so it really helps,” said Gort.
He said this is the farm’s busiest month. Their fall festival takes place every Saturday and Sunday throughout October. It’s their one and only fundraiser of the year.
The money raised allows low-income children and families, who normally wouldn’t be able to afford admission, to visit the farm.
Cowans said it’s great to know the time and effort her scouts put in will allow other kids the chance to enjoy this magical animal sanctuary.
That's a core element of scouts, is helping your neighbor, helping others, so we’ve tried to instill in them at a young age and all the way throughout scouts that it’s important to give back,” said Cowans.
For more information on HorsePower For Kids Fall Festival, click here.
